Has the Media Received Instructions to Make AAP Lose?

In a move that is being described as illegal and unprovoked, the IBN7 news channel has sacked editor Pankaj Srivastava on 21 January, 2015. This move allegedly was for the perceived infraction of raising his voice against the biased media coverage in the ongoing Delhi elections coverage.

This is not the first time that a media bias has been perceived against the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders, particularly against Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal has accused the media of being biased against his party in the past as well: in March 2014, he accused 3 TV news channels, India TV, India News and Zee TV, claiming that coverage was biased in favour of Modi and that Times Now also reported in a manner biased against the AAP. (Source)

It is claimed that such biased reporting owes itself to the fact that media outlets depend upon corporate advertizing. The corporates in turn support and fund political parties in a way that is conducive to their own profit motives and pressure is thus brought to bear either directly or indirectly upon the media.

Shazia Ilmi, who has now joined the BJP had also issued a statement last year, (when she was still a part of the AAP) where she accused sections of the media of being biased against the AAP. She had complained of a “definite bias and prejudice in the way the AAP is being treated”. She also spoke of “paid news”, that reported against the AAP without verification and about a “nexus between corporate interests, news channels and the political class”.

A Facebook group called India Against Paid Media, instances of unfair or biased reporting are routinely highlighted. A write up highlighted there spoke about Supari Journalism against Aam Aadmi Party about the way reportage is biased against the AAP: opinion polls that ask questions such as How much do you hate Arvind Kejriwal, about fake opinion polls, slanted stories, manufactured ‘breaking’ news, fixed TV debates, selective reporting against AAP’s leaders and more.

The minute it was announced that Kiran Bedi had joined the BJP, this picture – projecting Kiran Bedi as a ‘supercop’ and Arvind Kejriwal as a ‘failed officer’ started to circulate on social media, particularly mobile applications such as wattsapp.

What does the recent sacking of Pankaj Shrivastava indicate? Does it mean that the media has to toe the line dictated to them or else…?

So is it a case of जिसकी लाठी उसकी भैंस? Will the ruling dispensation be permitted to call all the shots including what we the people read, hear and see? Can we the people, have no realistic hope that our media, the 4th pillar of our democracy, will the do the job that it is charged in a fair, responsible, unbiased and honest manner?

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